Bonding package includes state's weigh stations

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The reason was pretty simple -- keeping records wasn't a priority at the station and hadn't been for at least three years, according to a state audit dating back to 2003.

"We were shocked by what we found in that auditor's report," Kelly said.

Almost three years ago Kelly and Leighton founded the Citizens Transportation Lobby to advocate for more rail transit funding. The group, which now includes over 100 members, took up the cause of increasing truck inspections after a series of fatal accidents in Connecticut.

The group was concerned about the truck accidents and reports that the weigh stations were not open very often.

Last week, Connecticut was the site of another tragic truck accident, when a tanker truck carrying heating oil went out of control on I-95 North in East Lyme, blasted through the Jersey barriers, and struck a truck in the southbound lanes head on. The accident killed three people.

In 2005, an accident at the bottom of on Avon Mountain killed four people; in September, after a truck lost control on that same stretch of road and drove into a building, Rell ordered extra inspections and opened the weigh stations for longer hours.

Kelly said her group wanted to make sure the Connecticut State Police can catch truckers who may be tired or driving vehicles that aren't safe. But to do so took a lot of hours and effort by a lot of people.

"We just kept at it," Kelly said, adding the group distributed copies of the audit report to lawmakers, who were surprised the problem had existed for so long.

In its report, the Auditors of Public Accounts said, "Our review disclosed that there is not a consistent system in place to report (weigh station data)." The auditors recommended the state establish a reporting log to track infractions, and the Department of Public Safety said it and the Department of Motor Vehicles could work out a system to create such a log.

However, no legislative action was ever taken to have the departments take action -- until now.

On Friday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed into law the state's bonding package, which included a regulation requiring the departments of Public Safety and Motor Vehicles to create a log for truck infractions that will document how long the five state weigh stations are open.

The departments have until Dec. 15 to create the log and until Jan. 1 to have a system in place to keep track of weigh station activities. They will have to report statistics on the stations every six months and post them on department Web sites.

State Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, worked with Kelly and Leighton and said the women's efforts should guide others who want to see the state improve.

"You can't just tell your legislator to do what you want, you have to get involved," he said. "There are 5,000 pieces of legislation written each session and only 500 become law."

The Citizens Transportation Lobby saw a problem and a way to fix it and worked with lawmakers to make it happen -- its members didn't show up with a political ax to grind, he said.

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, worked hard on the issue, too, Duff said. McDonald had been fighting to get weigh station statistics for years and has advocated opening the Greenwich station for longer hours.